Konstantin Poltavets: “By opening our inner workings we showed that we had nothing to hide”

Within the Russian National Olympic Team Media Center project Head coach of the Russian national Speed Skating team Konstantin Poltavets explained that it was decided to give Holland’s Koen Verweij the opportunity to train with the Russian team.

– Why did we allow Koen Verweij to train with the Russian team? There are few reasons. First of all, he is a very good sparring partner for Denis Yuskov. The work, these guys have done together, can without exaggeration be called unique. I am confident that these joint trainings will benefit Denis.

Secondly, for our young athletes it was very useful to train with such a master as Verweij. The Dutchman has shared positive spirit and attitude for success with is common to all Dutch skaters.

Moreover by opening our inner workings to a foreign athlete, we have shown that we had nothing to hide. I hope Dutch media, which introduced a well-known situation in a negative light two years ago, will now talk about the Russian national team in a different manner.